Bill Acton's Embodiment Blog: IPA vowels

Showing posts with label IPA vowels. Show all posts

Friday, October 28, 2011

Teaching pronunciation by the numbers

At a recent workshop I was asked why we use vowel numbers. My standard response (which includes all of the vowels of North American English): "Using or employing vowel numbers for haptic teaching and correcting pronunciation is not just a good idea, it is probably the only way!"

Clip art: Clker

In order, the vowels there are: 11w+2, 8, 4+8y+2, 6w+12, 7+12, 8, 5+2, 1y+2, 5, 8+4+2, 12+12+1y+3y+12, 2, 6, 7, 12, 10, 6y+1y+12, 2, 2, 6+12+1y+1y, 1y, 9w+1y, 3y! I began using that system when I was a student of Joan Morley back in the 70's at the University of Michigan (Here is the link to her great student text, Improving Spoken English, still one of the best ever written.)

The benefits are several, including being able to quickly make sure that the learner gets the right vowel noted, without having to fish around in class verbally for the right vowel quality--which may not happen anyway. Once the vowel felt sense and number and key word are anchored effectively, ability to change and recall are enhanced significantly. If you are relatively "dys-haptic" in your work, it probably doesn't make much difference how you correct vowels . . . but your days are numbered!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Semiotics of the visual field

Here is a research study that uses the "Personal Styles Inventory" in exploring the personality traits of subjects arrested for DWI. (My colleague and mother-in-law) Dr Corrine Cope, was instrumental in developing the conceptual framework, depicted in the octagon below, for identifying the relationship between traits in an individual. The layout of the sectors of the PSI octagon is strikingly similar to the underlying bases of visual representations of many psychological and philosophical systems: the basic "meaning" of the vertical/horizontal axes. (Note the simple External/Internal ~ Change/Stability figure at the bottom.)

From several earlier posts examining the character or tendencies inherent in the various areas in the visual field (See links to visual metaphor usage, NLP, OEI and phonaesthetics), it has been acknowledged that anchoring or retrieving a sound or process higher or lower--or more to the left or the right-- in front of the learner should make a difference. The meanings of the PSI octagon sectors provide a fascinating template for mapping on the felt sense of the vowel system of a language . . . as long as the front vowels are to the right as in EHIEP vowel displays, rather than to the left as is traditionally charted by phoneticians.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

What is haptic pronunciation teaching?

Basically, it is using gesture, touch and movement to teach pronunciation of English (or any language). What makes this method unique is that it is based on controlled and systematic use of gesture in doing that. (Often the problem with gesture use in language learning is that it can be "crazy" or random or intimidating or inconsistent, or not well-developed and tied to clear outcomes.)

The earlier "Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation (EHIEP) approach," now KINETIK, does a better job of enhancing presentation, modelling, feedback and correction. The method is simple and easy to follow. Once a 30-minute module is finished, teacher and students have a set of techniques to use in class anytime a pronunciation problem or opportunity comes up!

Haptic Preliminaries

I often begin workshops or papers with the comment that in about 40 years in the field I have had just one idea: that the systematic use of body movement is essential to effective and efficient pronunciation instruction. That has never been more relevant than today, with the general deemphasis on pronunciation and introduction of technology into the field. From both perspectives, the "haptic" perspective approach developed here offers great promise. I can at least promise you a "moving" experience!

What is the KINETIK Method?

KINETIK is the name of the new v6.0 haptic pronunciation teaching system. About six years earlier we were using the acronym, "Haptic Integrated Pronunciation for Other/Extended Circle English Speakers" (HIPOECES)--still there in the url of this blog!

Haptic-integrated clinical pronunciation is:

A different way to learn pronunciation, based in part on Arthur Lessac’s notion of “Training the body first.” It is also based on research in the use of movement and touch in learning and training. It:

Looks somewhat like a combination of aerobics, sign language and Taichi

Provides a basic foundation for continued, self-directed pronunciation learning and classroom instruction

Designed for use by relatively untrained teachers but appropriate for all teachers (and learners) of all levels

Focuses on pronunciation used in conversation (not all words in English)

Is a highly “brain-and-body-friendly” system that promotes efficient learning of integrated tasks in general

Designed to promote integrated classroom pronunciation instruction and enable integration of conscious pronunciation work into spontaneous speaking.

Introduction

This blog was formerly named: HIPoeces (pronounced 'hI-pƏ-cIs), basically an approach to teaching English pronunciation to speakers of "outer and expanding" circle Englishes (including that population commonly termed: non-native speakers) but also compatible with the use of local models other than simply Standard" American" or RP. Using Kachru's "Inner, expanding and outer circles" model to characterize the breadth of Englishes and speakers of those, HIPoeces (now HICP) systems focus on developing haptically-centered pedagogical models and methods which can be adapted for teaching the pronunciation of various Englishes as they are spoken and taught by "owners" of those varieties.

In theory, the underlying principles can be applied to teaching the sound system of any language. Most language instructors intuitively use a great deal of movement and tactile anchoring in the classroom. The essential question is how to use that resource systematically, especially so that those learners who are less "haptic" in nature are also "moved" by the method.

Simply put, the HICP model/method is based on the idea of speaking along with arm and hand movement, not all that different from that used in sign languages. Most movement patterns are taken from either typical classroom pronunciation instruction practice or from related fields, such as psychotherapy or sports.

Most blog posts link to research that relates to the general HICP model, that is studies dealing with the role of gesture, touch, movement, learning modalities, learning in output, use of the visual field in learning, and experiential learning.

DEFINITIONS:

"Haptic" techniques- procedures that involve both movement and touch (Obvious examples include clapping hands, tapping feet, or holding an object and shaking it to the rhythm of a poem.)

"HICP techniques" - procedures that are haptic and also explicitly coordinated with phonological structures and/or discourse prosody (For example, clapping hands on primary stressed syllables in multi-syllable words, or doing a dance step on key words in conversational turns.)

"Haptic integration"- The haptic dimension probably functions as much to anchor visual and auditory material as it does to assist the learner in getting the "felt sense" of the sound or sound process. Lack of integration into spontaneous speech being such a serious potential shortcoming of instruction, haptic engagement seems a promising bridge to more accurate fluency.

"Visual field" - in HICP extensive use is made of the visual field in front of the learner. (For example, a modified version of the IPA vowel chart is anchored haptically in the imagination of the learner, directly in front of the upper body, and used for several purposes throughout the program.)